Men’s Swim & Dive: Ohio State improves to 2-0 with victory over Denison

Connor Imes
Wed, 15 Nov 2023 00:47:58 +0000
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Ohio State’s men’s swimming team remains undefeated after defeating Denison 186-103 in their latest most recent Friday.
Credit: Courtesy of Ohio State Athletics

There were no questions this time around, as the Ohio State men’s swim teams secured victories in all 16 events, leaving no time for their first meet heroics.

After barely winning their first meet of the season, the No. 14 Buckeyes defeated Denison by a score of 186 to 103 Friday in Columbus at McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion, improving to 2-0 to start the season for the second straight year.

“We’re about a week out from our midseason invitational, which is kind of a good point for us to check where we’re at in a championship-type environment,” associate head coach Mike Hulme said. “This week was about, kind of, lining up our preparation, our details, and we made a lot of people swim off events, events that they don’t normally get to race, and it was a lot of fun.”

Sophomore Tristan Jankovics put up another big performance for the Buckeyes, placing first in both the 200 free and 200 breast.

“I think my focus and details was there today, just because I wasn’t really worried about the time,” Jankovics said. “I can still work on my wall details and like small things around there, but I think in general, my strokes are coming along, just getting my walls right for championship season.”

Another sophomore who put up an impressive performance was Tomas Navikonis. He finished first in both the 50 and 500 free and was also part of the squad that finished first in the 400 free relay at the end of the night.

Fifth-year Lyle Yost led the way again for the diving team, finishing first in the 3-meter dive and second in the 1-meter.

“Over the last couple of months, I’ve been focusing on one meter for the Pan-Am games,” Yost said. “So, I’m just getting back into the 3-meter training. It’s been good to get back up on 3-meter, get some platform practice, but today’s events went really well.”

Yost nearly finished first in the 1-meter as well — the event in which he is the current reigning national champion — but finished just 0.23 points behind junior Clay Chaplin, a close margin in the diving world.

Yost said he only had one practice this week, as he’d been busy all week outside of the pool.

“I’m actually coming off a big week of student teaching, so today was more of a mental day, working on getting my list off without the amount of practice that I’m accustomed to,” Yost said.

The team started to exhibit its swimmers after the 11th event, as it had already accrued more than enough points to win the meet, so after that point, no more of the Buckeyes’ scores counted toward the final score.

This also led to most of the points recorded by the Big Red, even though Ohio State still finished in first place and won every event.

The team will return to the pool next for the fall invitational, which will take place Thursday through Saturday in Columbus at the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion.